Premier League
Day of reckoning looms in Premier League survival race
Fingernails will be bitten to the quick on Sunday as Everton, Leicester City and Leeds United make a dash for the last remaining seat on the Premier League lifeboat.
While the title and most of the other issues have been resolved ahead of final day, the relegation survival battle will provide the most absorbing viewing — for neutrals at least.
For the clubs, and fans, involved the 90 minutes on Sunday may feel like an eternity.
Southampton were long ago cast adrift and will already be planning for life in the second-tier Championship, but the other two relegation places are still to be decided.
Everton at least have their destiny in their hands as they seek to extend their unbroken 69-year stay in the top flight.
Victory at home to Bournemouth on Sunday will render anything Leicester and Leeds manage at home to West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur redundant and ensure the Toffees another great escape to rival the two they pulled off in the 1990s.
Everton are currently on 33 points and with Leicester and Leeds on 31 they could even lose and still stay up if the other two fail to win – a scenario that would break a Premier League record for the least points required to ensure safety, currently the 34 West Bromwich Albion accumulated in 2005.
It may sound straightforward, but final day survival battles usually have numerous twists and turns and Everton’s task was made more complicated by Leicester hanging on grimly for a 0-0 draw at Newcastle United on Monday.
That point lifted Leicester above Leeds on goal difference and meant Everton will begin against Bournemouth without the cushion of being able to draw to stay up, as Leicester have a superior goal difference.
“If somebody had said we’ll take it to the last game, I’d have taken that, but I’d rather us have the say on whether we stay up or not,” Leicester’s interim coach Dean Smith said.
“It’s out of our hands but we have to go out to get the win and hope Lady Luck shines down on us.”
Relegation would have seemed unthinkable just a couple of seasons ago for Leicester when they won the FA Cup by beating Chelsea, five years after winning the Premier League title.
Leeds really do need all the cards to fall in their favour. To avoid a return to the championship after a three-season stay in the top flight they must beat Tottenham by any score, then hope Leicester fail to win and Everton lose.
There is also another survival scenario for Leeds in which they beat Tottenham by at least three goals, Leicester fail to win and Everton draw, in which case Leeds would stay up on goal difference, or if that is level, courtesy of having scored more goals.
Leeds beat the drop on the final day of last season by winning at Brentford, but even Sam Allardyce, the renowned escape artist who answered Leeds’ SOS call in May, sounded pessimistic after last weekend’s loss at West Ham.
“It was difficult for him, coming in at this stage with this many games left,” former Leeds great Eddie Gray said. “You don’t get a real opportunity. It’s a difficult situation for everybody. But the club probably had to try something to try and get us out the situation.”
-Reuters
Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.
Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.
Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.
Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.
He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.
-Reuters
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Five players including England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho have informed Manchester United that they wish to explore a future away from the Premier League side, a club source said on Friday.
Brazilian midfielder Antony, Dutch defender Tyrell Malacia and England international Jadon Sancho are also looking to leave the club, the source added.
Rashford, who has made more than 400 senior appearances for United, has fallen out of favour with manager Ruben Amorim, played for Aston Villa on loan while United had their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 15th in the standings.
Amorim had called Rashford’s work rate into question, saying he would rather put a goalkeeper coach on the bench than a player not giving their all.
Rashford said he was feeling fitter and better since joining Villa, where he scored two goals in 10 league appearances.
United also failed to qualify for the Champions League as they lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Garnacho, who was a late substitute in the final, voiced his displeasure on social media after the loss.
“Up until the final, I played every round helping the team, and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,” he wrote in a post . “The final will influence (my decision), but the whole season, the situation of the club.”
Sancho was on loan at Chelsea, where he made 31 league appearances last season. Antony, who joined United from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 for a reported initial transfer fee of more than $100 million, scored five goals in 17 LaLiga appearances on loan at Real Betis.
Malacia joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on loan in February.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.
The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.
“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.
“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”
Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.
“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.
“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.
“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”
The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.
However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.
-Reuters
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